I would think that Arod has played his last game with the Yanks and possibly his career? He's pretty toxic given the latest allegations of use. I don't see a ton of teams lining up to aquire a player with his baggage.

In a week in which speculation and statements of the obvious passed as breaking news -- no one, least of all the Yankees, ever thought A-Rod suddenly would choose retirement in light of Tuesday's Miami New Times bombshell story alleging that he purchased performance-enhancing drugs from 2009 into last season -- it's been mentioned only occasionally that the documents central to that report simply haven't been authenticated by investigating authorities.

The paperwork, though fascinating for all of the obvious reasons, in and of itself likely doesn't constitute enough evidence to get A-Rod or any of the other players mentioned in the story suspended by Major League Baseball.

MLB and federal authorities are investigating the anti-aging clinic, Biogenesis, and its proprietor, Anthony Bosch, at the heart of the New Times story.

This is not a defense of Rodriguez, whose past admission of PED use -- after strenuous assertions that he had never used them -- and subsequent explanation during that head-scratching news conference in spring training of 2009 long ago cost him the opportunity to get any benefit of the doubt.

That's a bed of his own making.

Nor does asking the what-if-he-didn't-do-it question take issue with any of the reporting of the New Times.

But Rodriguez, who has hired prominent defense attorney Roy Black and has emphatically denied the story's allegations -- and those made Thursday by ESPN's "Outside the Lines'' that Bosch personally injected him with PEDs at his Miami home -- is deserving of due process.

That said, do the Yankees believe A-Rod, who did not contact the team in the days after the story was published?

By and large they do not.

Any goodwill he had left with the organization all but disappeared when he was alleged to have flirtatiously flipped baseballs to two women near the Yankees' dugout during Game 1 of the 2012 ALCS -- a game that began the Tigers' four-game sweep -- in order to procure phone numbers.

This past week, a source described the Yankees as being "exasperated" by the latest news, resigned that the circus with this particular player never leaves town, even when he's away from it recovering from surgery.

Of course, the narrative then and now would be different if Rodriguez were coming off a 2012 season in which he hit 40 homers and / or excelled in the postseason.

In that case, neither the Yankees nor their fans would care, nor should they, about how many women he flirted with, or when. And the recent story would have produced plenty of detractors, yes, but defenders, too.

But a 37-year-old who by all appearances is breaking down -- and, even when healthy, has seen his production steadily decline -- and is an admitted previous PED user? He had little chance of receiving a shred of benefit of the doubt.

And even less chance of anyone asking the question presented in the second paragraph.

What if A-Rod is able to prove his innocence?

Other than the satisfaction of avoiding suspension and clearing his name in terms of these allegations, it actually changes little.

Before these allegations, the Yankees very much were desirous of freeing themselves of the albatross of a contract they slung around themselves in December 2007, which has five years and $114 million left on it.

And they know, as experts have pointed out all week, even if A-Rod does get suspended, it's still the longest of shots that they can get an early termination of the deal.

The club's faint hope is that A-Rod -- a player whom they privately don't think will see the field in 2013 as he rehabs from hip surgery -- will in the next year or two conclude that he's physically unable to continue.

In that circumstance, they have at least a fair chance to collect much of the money on the contract, which is insured.

If the allegations prove correct, the Yankees wouldn't mind a scenario in which they reach some kind of agreement with A-Rod. Perhaps the third baseman will decide the rehab is too difficult and won't want to face continued public vitriol and the embarrassment of declining skills.

But, simply put, that's still unlikely to motivate him to walk away from the full $114 million.

In the meantime, as the Yankees wait for MLB to finish its investigation, the franchise finds itself asking a rhetorical question about December 2007 that has been posed with increased frequency in recent years.

I do not blame A-Rod for not wanting to walk away from $114 million dollars. But if he is innocent, then why not sue those who claim that he took performance-enhancing drugs?

The NY Yankees have become the LA Lakers--a team with star players but full of drama.

minus Ron Artest or the Kardashians :-)

Well, Jeter does get around, like a Kardashian.... ;-)

LOL...i don't think anyone is clamoring for an episode of Keeping Up With the Jeters :-)

As someone who lives in the Tri State area....Jeter may live a great NY single life, but he does it with a minimum of Publicity....he avoids it and stays above it.....as oppoed to the Kardashians who probably call their publicists before they use the facilites.

I do not blame A-Rod for not wanting to walk away from $114 million dollars. But if he is innocent, then why not sue those who claim that he took performance-enhancing drugs?

The NY Yankees have become the LA Lakers--a team with star players but full of drama.

minus Ron Artest or the Kardashians :-)

Well, Jeter does get around, like a Kardashian.... ;-)

LOL...i don't think anyone is clamoring for an episode of Keeping Up With the Jeters :-)

As someone who lives in the Tri State area....Jeter may live a great NY single life, but he does it with a minimum of Publicity....he avoids it and stays above it.....as oppoed to the Kardashians who probably call their publicists before they use the facilites.

Alex Rodriguez was implicated in a report last week alleging he was given performance-enhancing drugs from 2009-12.

The notebooks reported to belong to Florida wellness clinician Tony Bosch connect New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez to a staggering array of drugs and supplements to be used literally morning, noon and night and through multiple delivery systems, including lozenges, creams and injections. Those notes, parts of which the Miami New Times have published online, provide the road map Major League Baseball investigators have begun to follow.

A contingent of MLB officials met in Miami on Monday with New Times staff members to learn more about the notebooks, how they were acquired, the names of other players not named in the report and the possibility of the New Times turning over those documents.

Investigators also intend to follow Bosch's notes to see if they lead to corroborating evidence, such as receipts for plane trips and overnight packages, according to a source close to the investigation. The source said investigators also are tracking packages tied to Juan Nunez, a player confidante who formerly worked for agents Sam and Seth Levinson and who was a co-conspirator with Melky Cabrera of a web site scam staged after a failed drug test by Cabrera last year.

New Times editor Chuck Strouse confirmed MLB officials asked for the notebooks and logs but that the publication had not yet decided about how to respond to the request. "We are deliberating," he said.

Strouse said the publication has received only one response from legal representatives of any of the named persons in the report -- and that was what he termed an "aggressive letter" questioning whether the report violated federal HIPAA laws, which are designed to protect patient privacy under care of health care providers.

The notebooks contain a trove of information from 2009-12, especially about Rodriguez and a suggested volume of doping almost unheard of in baseball. The documents released by the New Times connect Rodriguez to at least 19 drugs and supplements, including the banned substances testosterone, HGH and IGF-1, and define one doping regimen that includes as many 19 injections: four subcutaneous injections of IGF-1, nine shots of CJC (a growth hormone releasing hormone) and GHRP (growth hormone releasing peptide), and six shots of HGH at 2.5 international units.

Rodriguez, through a statement, has denied being treated by Bosch and characterized the documents as "not legitimate." Bosch has issued a statement denying an association with the named players.

"The only thing that surprises me is . . . to be using that much is a surprise," said Gary Wadler, a past chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency's prohibited list. "I don't think any particular substance is the issue as long as you have one banned substance. The fact of the matter if he's doping, if it's two substances or five substances, as long as you have one banned substance, you're doping. The other thing you see are the various delivery systems of doping, whether under the skin or [by] mouth."

According to the Bosch notes, the failed test of Cabrera -- which occurred in July and confirmed in August -- appeared to be the tipping point for a financially stretched Bosch, and possibly the demise of his since shuttered Biogenesis clinic in Coral Gables, Fla. Upon Cabrera's suspension, Bosch wrote a letter addressed to "Juan" in which he sought $14,000 in payments from Cabrera, including what Bosch described as a $5,000 "All-Star bonus" for helping him make the All-Star team.

Bosch appears to use "food" as a code name for his drugs, as in "I am out thousands of dollars [because] I bought this month's food," as well as explaining, "I would like to send all the food out immediately to you so you may distribute it . . ."

In the letter Bosch also complained that the rift between him and Cabrera threatened to harm his relationship with Rodriguez, who is referred to with the code name Cacique: "This also has put my relationship w Cacique at risk @ the tune of 12K per month. And I have 4 years remaining on that deal."

There is no indication whether Cabrera and Bosch settled the financial dispute, but the notations in Bosch's notebook dry up after the dispute, at least according to documents released by the New Times.

Records describe Biogenesis clients according to how drugs were distributed to them: "office," "pickup" or "delivery." Rodriguez is listed as "Baseball/Delivery," as well as the notation "cash." The list of notations in nearly every case dovetails with the exact playing schedules and noted statistics of the players in question. Those notations include:

• A drug regimen that appears to have been written in 2011, the year of the 19th Annual World Congress on Anti-Aging and Aesthetic Medicine, the title of which appears as the letterhead of the paper used to outline the plan for "Cacique," Rodriguez's clinic code name. The regimen calls for taking growth hormone releasing hormone and growth hormone releasing peptides in .7 international units "AM/Noon/PM" three times per week.

• A 2012 reference to Rodriguez that lists him as "paid through April 30." It continues, "I need to see him between April 13-19. Deliver troches and pink cream . . . and May meds. He has three weeks of Sub-Q (as of April.)" The dates dovetail with the exact dates of a Yankees homestand. Troches are lozenges used to deliver testosterone, the pink cream is believed to be a transdermal delivery system of testosterone and Sub-Q is shorthand for subcutaneous,

• A notation for May 7-8, 2012 that refers to "NYC/ARod." The Yankees had an off day at home May 7 and played a home game May 8.

• A reference in a 2012 notebook of Rodriguez's batting average, home runs and RBI: .277, 7, 19 -- his exact statistics of May 29 when the Yankees were in Anaheim.

• The names of "Alex Rod" and "Yuri Sucart," his cousin, under May 21, 2010, a date the Yankees were in New York as the visiting team against the Mets.

• An April 4, 2012 delivery plan ("in person or by mail") for Yasmani Grandal, a catcher for the Triple-A Tucson Padres at the time. "Payment will be made by his girlfriend," it notes, including $500 for expenses.

• A busy week in 2012 that refers to Texas outfielder Nelson Cruz in Baltimore May 7 (where the Rangers played the Orioles), Rodriguez in New York May 8 and Cabrera in Phoenix May 10 (where the Giants played the Diamondbacks). Cruz was hitting .216 entering May 7. He hit .500 over the next week.

• A note about Cruz on May 29, 2012 with his exact triple crown statistics at the time: .276, 7, 34.

• A holiday discount with a Dec. 14, 2011 notation of drugs associated with University of Miami trainer Jimmy Goins. "Gift certificate. $75 off X-mas," it notes, as well as a credit of "$100 for referral."

• A discrepancy in dates assigned to a notebook labeled 2009. The notations refer to Feb. 7, 14 and 28 as falling on Mondays -- which was true in 2011, not 2009.

The notes in the 2009 book list "Alex Rod" and Yuri Sucart under "Mon./Feb. 14." It was on Feb. 5, 2009 that Selena Roberts of Sports Illustrated confronted Rodriguez while training in Miami about information that he flunked his 2003 survey test for the steroid Primobolan. The story, written by Roberts and David Epstein, was posted Feb. 7, 2009, a Saturday -- making it more likely the "Mon./Feb. 14" notation refers to 2011.

Strouse said it's possible an entry from one year became interspersed with another year, as he said the New Times found in the case of another Bosch client.

The notebooks give MLB the kind of sunlight onto the secretive drug culture of athletes that the United States Anti-Doping Agency failed to get from disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong. They detail how ballplayers could take HGH and IGF-1 with impunity because baseball has not tested in-season for those banned substances, a loophole that closes this year. Moreover, ballplayers could risk using testosterone in low doses and in the form of fast-acting creams and troches in hopes of not triggering a positive urine sample.

"They essentially were playing the lottery when it came to using testosterone," said one MLB official. "Some got caught; some didn't." Cabrera, Grandal and Colon all failed drug tests last season for elevated levels of testosterone.

For instance, the notes for Grandal show the use of HGH and IGF "six days on, one day off, AM and PM" and the use of testosterone troches of 15 percent and, before games, 20 percent.

**

Here are identifiable substances connected to Alex Rodriguez according to documents released by the Miami New Times, which the publication attributes as the handwritten logs of Florida wellness clinician Tony Bosch. It does not include some substances that could not be identified because of abbreviations or legibility.

Testosterone: Banned substance applied by cream at 10% strength

L-Glutathione: Antioxidant used for cell repair

Troches: 19% testosterone-laced lozenge used prior to workout

Pink cream: Trans-dermal delivery of testosterone

HGH: Injectable growth hormone, a banned substance

CJC: Injectable growth hormone releasing hormone

GHRP: Injectable growth hormone releasing peptide

IGF-1: Banned substance; stimulates insulin and muscle growth

Zinc: Essential mineral used as dietary supplement

Amino acids: Supplement aids in recovery and building of muscle tissue

Perhaps after his playing days are over Arod would take an active role in being a case study for the long term effects of abusing steriods and altering your body's natural imune system. One would have to think that if indeed he's dumping that much into his system that at some point his body will breakdown (which appears to be happening with his hips).

Whats next bionical surgical implants "Franken-Rod" The greatest cyborg baseball player of all time?